BORIS Johnson's sister has accused him of using the Commons despatch box as a "bully pulpit" as she criticised the Prime Minister’s Brexit strategy.
Rachel Johnson said her brother’s attack on Parliament was a "strongman gambit" designed to "whip up" support.
A prominent Remain supporter, Johnson also suggested the Prime Minister’s strategy could be the result of external pressure from people who would benefit financially from a No-Deal Brexit.
She told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "What we saw yesterday and today in the Commons is a very divided country.
"But to say that Parliament is at fault is not helpful, because Parliament is also divided and it's reflecting the division in the country."
She suggested that the tactic was the "kind of strongman gambit that has been proved to work".
"I think that what we are seeing is an executive that is so keen to deliver Brexit in any shape or form, to get the country out of the EU, to deliver up on that promised land, that they will do anything to justify that end."
READ MORE: PM calls Scottish Government 'incompetent, dissolute and reckless'
It could be Dominic Cummings advising the PM to be aggressive...it could also be from people who have invested billions in shorting the £… in the expectation of a #NoDealBrexit." @RachelSJohnson tells @Sarah_Montague what possibly prompted the PM's behaviour yesterday pic.twitter.com/oW2ZvX62xE
— The World at One (@BBCWorldatOne) September 26, 2019
Asked what could be behind the strategy, she said: "It could be (senior aide) Dominic Cummings advising the Prime Minister to be extremely aggressive and to face down opposition from all sides of the establishment in order to secure his position as the tribune of the people.
"It could be coming from my brother himself, he obviously thoroughly enjoys being Prime Minister.
"It also could be from – who knows – people who have invested billions in shorting the pound or shorting the country in the expectation of a no-deal Brexit. We don't know."
WATCH: Dominic Cummings in public bust-up with furious Labour MP
The Johnson family has been split by Brexit, with the Prime Minister's brother Jo quitting his ministerial post earlier this month in protest at the direction the Government was taking.
He said there had been an "unresolvable tension" between "family loyalty and the national interest".
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